Hi all!
Long time lurker here on slrpnk.net and just signed up to participate more. I have myself been moving on a fairly slow but steady trajectory towards a life aligned with solarpunk values (although not with zeal or even the knowledge of solarpunk for most of this time). I still have a good distance to go, but I also have some concrete ideas in mind going forward.
So I thought I’d make this post where people could share their stories to inspire each other to take bolder steps: what steps have you so far taken and what do you plan to do going forward to live more true to a real solarpunk? What turned you onto these ideals in the first place? If not all ideals speak to you, which do and why? etc. etc. Anything goes!
I’ll post my story in a separate comment.
This as a pretty awesome list, I’m gonna save it.
One thing you could add is e-bikes, depending on how good the bike infrastructure is where you live. We were able to completely eliminate a second car because I can bike much further to work without getting sweaty. 9 miles each way. Also bike to some other local things like farmers market. Unfortunately my dad got old and we got a hybrid for free since he can no longer drive, to help him with appointments. But it was working in concept until that point.
We thought about an ebike, but we don’t really have intermediate distance driving to substitute that would be safe. As our careers already require two cars, there was no reason to add a unnecessary device. For shorter distances, I’d rather get the exercise anyway and cycle.
Makes perfect sense. I do get some light exercise on the e-bikes. If you’re familiar with zone minutes, I get between 15-75 each 18 mile round trip, depending on how hard I peddle. It’s usually enough to cover my exercise for the week. I can always peddle harder on the way home when I’m not worried about being sweaty.